Series 5, No. 16 June 2003

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1 Pacific Manuscripts Bureau Newsletter Room 4201, Coombs Building (9) Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200 Australia Ph: (612) ; Fax: (612) ; Series 5, No. 16 June 2003 Contents Pambu News p.1 Joshua Bell, Kerema Provincial Archives Burnt p.3 Jacob Hevelawa, Valuable Archives p.4 Kathy Creely, American Libraries Collecting Trip to PNG, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia p.4 Anna Towlson, Pacific related collections at the Library of the London School of Economics p.6 Nigel Wace, Yankee Maritime Activities and the Early History of Australia p.7 Ewan Maidment, Survey of Pacific Islands Archives of the Westpac Banking Corporation p.8 Selected new PMB microfilm titles p.9 Recent PMB Microfilm Short Titles p.12 PAMBU NEWS This issue of the Pambu Newsletter has two articles on the burning of PNG s Gulf Province archives in Kerema in February. Robin Hide commented that, provincial buildings seem to have little survivability...and the linkage of information/records to legal proceedings places them twice at risk. Kerema is the latest in a series of PNG Provincial administration buildings to be burnt along with their records some of which would have dated from at least WWII. It follows the destruction of the Sandaun (West Sepik) administration records burnt in April last year, Manus & Morobe administration records in 2001, and similar fire related disasters to Southern Highlands and Enga Provinces vital records in previous years. Joshua Bell s has kindly written an account for Pambu of related arson attacks in the Gulf province district and sub-district buildings and an appeal by Jacob Hevelawa, the PNG National Archivist, for adequate funding to protect provincial archives is re-printed from the Post Courier. Maureen Kattau resigned from the ANU Library on 16 April. She was Pacific Collections Librarian in the Library from 1992 till During that time she developed the Library s Pacific Collection in genial and friendly collaboration with RSPAS staff. Maureen was an active member of the RSPAS Pacific Islands Group and its successor, the Pacific Islands Liaison Centre. In that capacity she made a survey of some RSPAS academics research papers held in storage which pointed to the still unresolved problem of managing Pacific Islands research archives in the Coombs building. Maureen took a strong interest in PMB activities and represented the ANU Library on the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau management committee for several years after George Miller retired from the ANU Library. Even when she became User Services Coordinator in 1997 Maureen continued to exercise her considerable expertise helping to develop the Library's Pacific Collection and maintained her connections with the Bureau. Maureen s new position at the Macquarie University Library in Sydney is not related to Pacific studies, which is a loss to Pacific Islands scholarship in Australia. Building on Maureen s survey of records in Coombs storage and on a subsequent survey carried out last year by the RSPAS Digitisation Working Group, the Bureau has identified 58 non-current record groups of Pacific research

2 archives and data sets held either in the Coombs Building or in the homes of staff and ex-staff. This is by no means an exhaustive list. The RSPAS record groups listed by the Bureau range from Richard Thurnwald s New Guinea and Solomon Islands linguistic materials and some of his ethnographic notes dating from 1909 held by Tania Laycock in Bungendore, not far from Canberra, to Dorothy Shineberg s database of indentured labourers in New Caledonia compiled for her recently published book, The People Trade. There is now a good chance that the ANU will make arrangements to manage some of this wealth of documentation, either through an extension of the parameters of the ANU Library s Pacific Collection or through the formation of a Pacific Islands resources centre in RSPAS, or a combination of both. The Bureau has located, organised, microfilmed and/or stored some of these RSPAS-related research archives. In the past the Bureau has worked on the papers of Richard Gilson, R S Parker, Harry Maude and Bob Langdon; more recently it has carried out projects on the research papers of Jo Herlihy, Dorothy Crozier, Alan Ward, Sir Colin Allan and Peter Sack. Beyond the Coombs Building, the National Library of Australia has been collecting personal papers of Australians active in the Pacific Islands, particularly PNG, and holds papers of two prominent ANU Pacific scholars, Jim Davidson and Oscar Spate. The Noel Butlin Archives Centre at the ANU took in the archives of the now defunct Brisbane-based South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions. Earlier this year Lever Rexona closed down its library in Sydney, transferring its Levers Pacific Plantations Ltd records to the Unilever Archives in London (the Bureau had already microfilmed them), while the records of its Australian subsidiaries, J Kitchen & Sons, Lever & Kitchen, and others, were deposited at the Noel Butlin Archives Centre. No arrangements have yet been made for preservation of archives held by the Melbourne Library of BP Developments Australia which was closed down about 3 years ago. The BP Library held 209 PNG geological survey reports and related documents, , collected by the Australasian Petroleum Co and Oil Search Ltd. The Bureau recently asked BP what has happened to the reports. Unfortunately they have not been found so far. The Bureau s Pacific Islands archives preservation microfilm reformatting projects are proceeding at a regular pace. The Fiji Planters Journal, , and the diary of the Fiji beachcomber Edwin Turpin were microfilmed at the Fiji National Archives last November. Young Women s Christian Association of Fiji archives, , held by Amelia Rokotuivuna, the YWCA President, were also microfilmed in Suva. Registers of Melanesian Indentured Labourers, , kept by the Deutches Handel und Plantagen Gesselschaft, were microfilmed in the Nelson Memorial Library in Apia in December. Five volumes of pamphlets collected by Sir Arthur Gordon, together with an album of his press cuttings, held in the Hallstrom Pacific Collection, were microfilmed at the University of NSW Library in Sydney in January. Registers of Baptisms in Queensland, the Solomon Islands and New Guinea, , of the South Sea Evangelical Mission, formerly the Queensland Kanaka Mission, held at Macquarie University, were also microfilmed in January. The New Hebrides Magazine (Sydney) Nos.1-41, Oct 1900-Oct 1911, a journal of the Presbyterian mission in the New Hebrides, was microfilmed at the Mitchell Library on the same trip to Sydney The Fiji Agricultural Journal (Fiji Dept of Agriculture; later Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests) Vol.1, 1928 Vol.52, 1990, was microfilmed at the CSIRO Black Mountain Library in Canberra in February. The British Solomon Islands Protectorate, Agricultural Gazette, Vols.1-3, , was microfilmed at the Queensland Herbarium Library in March. The remaining parts of Fred Archer s papers on his plantations on Bougainville and Buka were also microfilmed on the same trip to Brisbane. Mr Ross Johnson s New Guinea Patrol reports and related papers, , were microfilmed in Sydney in March on the way back from Brisbane. In April the Micronesian Collection, , of the Hawaiian Mission Children s Society was microfilmed in Honolulu. Papers on the history of Catholic Missions in Micronesia, , collected by Fr Francis Hezel, SJ, were microfilmed at the Micronesian Seminar in Pohnpei in May. Shirley and Beatrice Baker Papers have been arranged and listed by Mrs Sioana Faupula and will be microfilmed over the next couple of months. 2

3 The second batch of Jo Herlihy s papers on provincial and local government in the Solomon Islands, , have been arranged and microfilmed. Pacific Phosphate Company Ltd correspondence to and from its agents in Nauru and Ocean Island, , has now been microfilmed. Jack Golson s papers on cultural policy in PNG have been transferred from the South Australian Museum to the Bureau for microfilming. Following a PMB management committee meeting in Apia in December 2002, a meeting was held with the Mitchell Library which resolved the Bureau s current funding arrangements. A further PMB management committee meeting will be held in Wellington later this month in conjunction with the conference of the Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives. Ewan Maidment PMB Executive Officer KEREMA PROVINCIAL ARCHIVES BURNT On February 23, 2003 a fire started by arsonists gutted the Gulf Province s administrative head quarters in Kerema. Along with the building, the government lost records related to the treasury, education, human resources, internal audits, pay office, agriculture and fisheries departments. The fire also destroyed the nearby provincial electoral commission office and all of its documents. Unfortunately, this event was only the latest arson in a recent succession of such incidents involving Gulf administrative offices and their records. Following the results of the 2002 elections, in which the incumbent Pangu candidate Chris Haiveta retained his regional seat, disgruntled villagers burned down the Ihu and Malalaua sub-district offices, destroying these stations records. With the increasing dissatisfaction caused by the Province s lack of basic services and development, these buildings and their records will only come under greater threat by a populace who feel increasingly disenfranchised. During the burning of the Ihu and Malalaua offices in 2002 I was conducting anthropological fieldwork in the Purari Delta, an area that falls under the administration of the Baimuru subdistrict office, which is located west of the Ihu station. The Gulf Province has six district offices, which are divided between the Province s two sections: Kerema (East) and Kikori (West). Within the Kerema district the offices include the main office in Kerema, the provincial capital, and the two sub-district offices of Malalaua and Kantiba. The Kikori district s headquarters are at Kikori, with its two sub-district stations in Baimuru and Ihu. Following independence in 1975, district and sub-district offices in the country s provinces often became the primary and/or only repositories of records relating to the station and its officers activities. The materials stored therein are important archives of the last 28 years of provincial administration and bureaucracy. After the burning of the Ihu District office, I went to the Baimuru sub-district office to examine their records as part of my research on history in the Purari. Crammed into three filing cabinets and spilling out of several cupboards, the Baimuru records cover the late 1960s to the present. Topics of interest in this archive include land leases, details of development schemes and projects, records relating to health, fisheries, forestry, foreign researchers, as well as oil and mineral exploration. Land disputes are registered in a log, which is kept in the station. Copies of these cases official reports are supposedly put on file before they are sent to the Kerema office. During the time of my research, these sensitive documents, I was told, were misplaced or missing whenever I made an attempt to see them. Over time, the records documenting the station s recent activities have become less and less detailed. Unfortunately, the documents are slowly deteriorating due to region s high humidity and lack of proper storage facilities. Despite these problems, the Baimuru material was able to fill in some gaps in my research regarding the local production and sale of artefacts, as well as the nature and extent of logging ventures in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The station s records also gave me a new perspective on events and projects that I heard about during the course of my research. While I was not able to examine the material in the Kikori district office, one can easily imagine this office s records contain equally interesting material particularly in light of the pipeline construction from Lake Kutubu, and recent large scale logging operations being carried out by Turama Forestry Industries and its parent company, Rimbunan Hijau. The Gulf has long been one of Papua New Guinea s least developed provinces. The documents lost and those that remain in the province s district and sub-district offices are important not only for transparent governance, but also as a record of past achievements and 3

4 failures. They form an archive of the province s struggle to develop in the early and later phases of national independence and, as such, can help provide the province s current leaders with examples of what does and does not work. For anthropologists, historians, development workers and political scientists, these records help inform, enrich and direct our accounts of and actions in the province. This latest string of arsons not only signals an alarming new trend in the country, but also threatens to plunge this stumbling province even further behind as it seriously impoverishes the province s archive. Joshua Bell Cambridge University * * * VALUABLE ARCHIVES From Viewpoint, Post-Courier, 28 Feb 2003 YOUR story on the Gulf Department disaster and the fate of its records prompts me to respond in general on the disastrous events in this country affecting our nation's documentary heritage. I have in the past expressed disappointment on the attitude towards the destruction of public records and archives of this nation by criminal elements. This country must be put into perspective to appreciate the fact that a fundamental tool of administration by any government is its records. Records are essential for the effective and productive functioning of both private and public organisations. Records document the decision and activities of governments and private institutions and serve as a benchmark by which future activities and decisions are measured. They document fundamental rights and obligations, and differentiate rule of law from the actions of arbitrary states. Without the records, the government/country will not have the evidence needed to hold officials accountable or to insist on the prosecution of corruption and fraud. Moreover, people suffer when inadequate information systems affect program delivery. Indeed, public health, education, pension, land and judicial rights all depend upon well-kept and well-managed records. The National Archives is a national function, although its success in saving the documentary heritage of Papua New Guinea requires a development budget support. Jacob Hevelawa PNG National Archivist * * * American Libraries Collecting Trip to PNG, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia, July 2002 This article gives a brief summary of a collecting trip in July 2002, to Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia on behalf of the libraries of the University of Hawaii (UH) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). The primary purpose of the trip was to obtain previously-identified materials which the libraries had been unable to acquire through normal acquisitions processes. The majority of these items were government publications, but missing issues of newspapers and other serial publications, commercially-published monographs, and music cds were also sought. In the course of the trip many previously unknown items were also identified and acquired. As with a similar trip taken in 1999, extensive preparations were made before leaving the U.S. Lists of publications needed were generated for both universities and missing issues of serial titles were noted. To avoid purchasing duplicates, lists of recently purchased monographs were compiled. University of Hawaii librarian, Lynette Furuhashi, and I worked closely on this project, consulting in Honolulu before and after the trip. Funding for the trip came from several sources. Travel funds were provided by the UH s Center for Pacific Islands Studies (CPIS), out of a grant from National Resource Centers program of the U.S. Department of Education. CPIS is the only National Resource Center in the U.S. which focuses on the islands of the Pacific. Salary and other personnel costs were provided by UCSD. One fact of collecting in the Pacific is that most materials are published by the government. Although there may be an official government publications office or printery, there are not central repositories of stocks for purchase. The reality is that collecting government publications necessitates visiting (and usually re-visiting) individual departments. Some departments are very well-staffed, with information officers, librarians, and extensive stocks of publications on hand, which makes the job of the collecting librarian much easier. Many departments, unfortunately, lack adequate staffing and/or facilities, with the result being that publications may be scattered or non-existent. In these cases, it was not always possible to even 4

5 ascertain what documents a department had published in recent years, let alone obtain a copy or two. Of the three places visited, only New Caledonia has a well-developed commercial publishing scene and correspondingly well-developed bookshops. I was pleased to discover a new bookstore in Noumea, Caledo Livres, which is specializing in publications about the Pacific. It has a very complete selection of both new and old books and journals about New Caledonia in particular. The one constant that I found in the course of this trip was the genuine helpfulness of the people encountered. Without their assistance, this trip would have been a failure. For more information about this trip, including the actual titles of publications purchased, please feel free to contact the author. In Papua New Guinea the following places were contacted: Dept. of Environment and Conservation; Dept. of Finance and Treasury; Dept. of Foreign Affairs; Government Printing Office; Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies; Law Reform Commission; National Archives; National Library; National Parliament Library; Dept. of National Planning; National Research Institute; National Statistical Office; Dept. of Trade and Industry. University of Papua New Guinea -Library; -Bookstore; -Journalism Programme; -Law Publications Unit; -UPNG Press; -School of Humanities & Social Sciences; Catholic Bookshop; Christian Books; Gordon and Gotch; Chin H. Meen (music); Theodist; Morauta and Associates (publishers of Paradise Magazine); The National (newspaper); Word Publishing (The Independent and Wantok newspapers). Other: Copies of election training materials, recent election laws, and other publications were donated for the University of Hawaii s collection by members of the Australian Electoral Commission. They had been in the country for a number of months, training Papua New Guinea elections officials and observing the national elections (which were taking place as I was there). Summary of publications obtained in Papua New Guinea: For University of Hawaii: 103 monographs (including 80 reports from Census of 2000); 516 serial issues (representing 8 different titles); 3 music cds. For University of California, San Diego: 114 monographs (including 80 census reports); 51 serial issues (representing 10 different titles); 5 music cds. In Vanuatu, the following were contacted: Broadcasting and Television Corporation; Dept. of Finance; Dept. of Health; Dept. of Strategic Management; National Council of Women; National Library; Parliament Library; State Law Office; Statistics Office; Reserve Bank; Vanuatu Cultural Centre; Telecom; Tourism Office. Snoopys (bookstore); Stop Press; PacificAds (publisher of Island Spirit Magazine); Elections Observer Group (Shirley Randell); Ridgeway and Blake (law materials); Trading Post newspaper (also publishes Pacific Weekly); University of the South Pacific (Emalus). Summary of publications obtained in Vanuatu: For University of Hawaii: 15 monographs; 143 serial issues (representing 10 different titles); 3 music cds. For University of California, San Diego: 10 monographs; 92 serial issues (representing 9 different titles); 3 music cds. In New Caledonia, the following organizations were contacted: Agence de Développement de la Culture Kanak; Centre Culturel Tjibaou; Archives de la Nouvelle-Calédonie; Imprimerie Administrative (for publications of Congres Territoriale); Institute de la Statistique et des Etudes 5

6 Economiques; Institut de Recherche pour le Développement; Musée de la Ville de Nouméa; Musée de Nouvelle-Calédonie; Offices of the Northern, Southern, and Loyalty Islands Provinces; Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie; Caledo Livres (bookstore); Data Film (microfilmers of Les Nouvelles (newspaper) and Journal officiel); Librairie Montaigne (bookstore); Société des Etudes Melanésiennes; Societe d Etudes Historiques de la Nouvelle- Calédonie; Secretariat of the Pacific Community; Pentecost (bookstore); Zodiaque (bookstore). Summary of publications obtained in New Caledonia: For University of Hawaii: 47 monographs; 50 serial issues (representing 26 different titles); 4 cds (non-music). For University of California, San Diego: 109 monographs; 57 serial issues (representing 14 different titles); 5 cds (nonmusic); 2 music cds. Kathryn Creely, Librarian Melanesian Studies Resource Center University of California, San Diego Kathy@library.ucsd.edu * * * PACIFIC RELATED COLLECTIONS AT THE LIBRARY OF THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS Although the LSE Library s archive holding mainly focus on British social and political history, we also hold some significant material relating to the Pacific region: Papers of Bronislaw Malinowksi Malinowski was a student at LSE from He first joined the School staff in , returned in 1921 as an occasional lecturer and was appointed to the first Chair in Social Anthropology at the School in Malinowski s papers include material relating to his expeditions to the Trobriand Islands in and , notably field notebooks, correspondence and photographs, as well as working papers for his publications on the Trobriands, notably Coral gardens and their magic (G Allen and Unwin, London, 1935), The sexual life of savages in North-West Melanesia (Routledge and Sons, London, 1929) Most of the collection has now been catalogued and is available for consultation, although the papers have not yet been sorted into their final arrangement. Papers of Sir Raymond Firth. Firth studied at Auckland University before completing a PhD at LSE ( ) under Malinowski. He conducted fieldwork on the island of Tikopia in the Solomon Islands from and He was appointed to the School staff in 1932 and remained at the LSE until his retirement in Firth s papers include material relating to his expeditions to Tikopia, including field notebooks, photographs, correspondence and working papers for his published works. Work on cataloguing the Firth papers began last year and is scheduled for completion in Certain files may be viewed with the prior permission of the Archivist Papers of Charles Seligman. Seligman first taught at the London School of Economics in 1910, and was appointed to the Chair of Ethnology of the University of London in Seligman s papers include field notes, journals and research material relating to his expeditions to the Torres Straits and Borneo in 1898 and Papua New Guinea in 1904 The Seligman papers have been listed and are open to researchers. An on-line catalogue is available at 2.lse.ac.uk/archives/handlists/Seligman/Seligma n.html Anna Towlson Assistant Archivist Contact details: Archives and Rare Books LSE Library 10 Portugal Street London WC2A 2HD Tel: +44 (0) Document@lse.ac.uk * * * YANKEE MARITIME ACTIVITIES AND THE EARLY HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA. 6

7 Nigel Wace and Bessie Lovett, Yankee Maritime Activities and the Early History of Australia, RSPAS Aids to Research Series No.A/2, Canberra, ANU, The establishment of a convict settlement at Sydney Cove in 1788 took place only twelve years after the Declaration of Independence by the British colonies in North America, and only five years after the Treaty of Versailles at the formal end of the rebellion. The Yankees needed to generate capital for their trade with Europe, and especially with China. Sealing and whaling in all of the world's oceans soon provided an economic staple for the young United States of America. Exploitation of these maritime resources, and the China trade brought many American vessels to Australian coasts. This book describes American maritime activities in the Southern Ocean before the gold rushes. It describes the institutions housing the logbooks and other maritime records in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. A shipping list of 602 American vessels which are known to have visited Australian coasts up to 1850 is indexed by the dates and places visited in the Australian colonies, with references to contemporary accounts in Australian newspapers, and shipping lists for colonial ports. Location in America of the manuscript records of these visits includes the index numbers of microfilm reels made by John Cumpston for the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau in the 1970s. These microfilms can now be seen in Australian and New Zealand and Hawaiian libraries. This 131 page paperback was typed in The shipping list of American vessels is not yet on a computer database. The book may nevetheless be useful to anyone interested in the first contacts between Aboriginal people and coastal explorers and exploiters in southern Australia. Copies are available for the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau: AU$25.00, plus postage. Nigel Wace Division of Archaeology and Natural History, RSPAS Australian National University * * * SURVEY OF PACIFIC ISLANDS ARCHIVES OF THE WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION In 2002 Michael Waterhouse, a retired Westpac executive who is writing a history of early gold mining in PNG, suggested that the Bureau survey the Pacific archives of the Westpac Banking Corporation. The aim of the survey was to report to Pacific researchers, through the Pambu Newsletter, on the extent and format of Westpac s Pacific Islands related archives. The archives are managed by Westpac Historical Services, a division of the Bank. The repository and reading room are located in a stylish 1950s warehouse on Parramatta Road in Homebush, a once industrial suburb of Sydney now being re-developed for high-rise housing to take advantage of Sydney s current land boom. The reading room, open Monday to Friday, 9.00am-4.00pm, replete with comfortable Edwardian furniture and banking memorabilia, is reminiscent of an earlier age of commerce. Westpac Historical Services is well-staffed with very experienced archivists and research staff whose knowledge of their archives, amounting to more than 5 kilometers of records, and their arrangement is essential to researchers. Researchers are required to apply for access to the archives in writing in advance of their visit. Access to material in the Archives is granted solely at the discretion of the bank in order to conform to privacy and banking legislation and to maintain good customer relations. Established as the Bank of NSW in 1817, Westpac is Australia s oldest company. It first developed an interest in the Pacific Islands in the 1870s and 1880s. For example, the Bank s archives include a series of private letters from Sir Arthur Gordon to the Chief General Manager, (GM/203/70) and there is a report of the official liquidators at Noumea of the Bank of New Caledonia, 1878 (SYD/401/5). However the Bank of NSW did not pursue its early interests in the Pacific Islands, deferring to the Bank of New Zealand which established operations in Fiji in the 1880s. It was not until 1901 that the Bank of NSW opened its first Branch in Fiji. A chronology of the development of the Bank s operations in Fiji and PNG can be gleaned from the resource files of Westpac Historical Services: Fiji Aug Suva Branch opened. Jun Bank of NSW Branch opened in Levuka (closed May 1944) Branch opened in Lautoka Agency in Ba opened, converted to a Branch in Tavua and Vatukoula agencies were opened following the discovery of gold mining industry developed by the Emperor, Loloma and Dolphin Groups Agency opened at Nadi Airport following development of the international airport after WWII. 7

8 Feb Agency opened in Nadi town, converted to a Branch, Mar Agencies also opened in Raki Raki & Sigatoka in early 1950s. Papua and New Guina May Bank of NSW opened its first PNG Branch in Douglas Street, Port Moresby. Re-established after the War in Nov Jun Branch opened in Rabaul. The doors were shut on 21 Jan Bill Clark, the Manager, and R W Skillen, dug up the records and evacuated with 2,600 in cash in a small coastal ship. After calling at Samarai they arrived at Townsville on 30 January. Other staff escaped by boat and overland. Two staff were listed as missing. Re-opened in new building in Nov Salamaua Branch opened. The Branch did not re-open after the War Wau Branch opened. In 1942 all Wau Branch staff enlisted in the NG Volunteer Rifles. Branch Manager Bob Byrne evacuated with the Bank records and 1,000 sterling in notes. The Branch reopened in 1953 in the general office of the Bulolo Dredging Company until new premises were built Samarai Branch opened Kavieng Branch opened. Nov Lae Branch opened. Closed 2 months later. Staff burnt records and cash and escaped overland. Branch re-opened in May By the 1960s the Bank operated Branches in Port Moresby, Alotau, Boroko, Goroka, Kavieng, Kimbe, Kokopo, Lae, Madang, Misima, Mt Hagen, Rabaul, Tabubil, Vanimo, Waigani, and Wewak. In 1975 the Bank s PNG operations were transferred to a subsidiary, The Bank of New South Wales (PNG) Ltd, which became Westpac Bank, PNG, Ltd in The Bank s other Pacific operations were administered by a Fiji and Island Division. In 1986 the Bank established the Chief Manager s Office of its Pacific Islands Division in Suva, reflecting the growth of its interests in the region which then included banking operations in Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, together with joint venture banks in Kiribati, Tonga, Tuvalu and Western Samoa. The latter were administered directly from the Senior General Management Division in Sydney. Lucy Rantzen, one of the Westpac Historical Services research staff, kindly provided a list of Westpac s Pacific region records. Although the list consists of about 320 entries, some of them extensive series, Ms Rantzen noted that it is not exhaustive. She said that at this stage Westpac Historical Services does not intend to make a complete listing of its Pacific records, owing to the current low demand from researchers of that region. Nevertheless the list does give a good idea of their holdings. Copies can be obtained from Westpac Historical Services. Some excerpts from the list will give an indication of the strength of the archives: Letters from the Suva Manager to the Chief General Manager, , document the beginning of the Bank s business in Fiji (GM/214/1); Chief Inspectors letters re the Bank s Fiji customers, business premises and staff in Fiji, (GM-CI/102/1 & /105); Chief Inspector s letters, including to the Suva Manager, (GM-CI/116/1-11); Secretary s letters to Fiji, , , (GM-S/108/4-6, /109/4, /112/1-10). The Chief Inspector s correspondence, (GM-CI-302), consisting of hundreds of files re internal matters (branches, etc.) and clients, both individuals and corporations, looks like it would give useful information on commercial activities, particularly in the 1930s. For example the CI s files on Fiji clients include: Fiji Legislative Council, (GM- CI/302/2239) Morris Hedstrom Ltd Suva, (GM-CI/302/2246) Colonial Sugar Refining Co Ltd Lautoka, (GM-CI/302/2225) Burns Philip (South Sea) Co Ltd, (GM-CI/302/2221 Loans to Fiji Government, (GM- CI/302/2232) Govt of Fiji public account, (GM-CI/302/2234/1) Prior to the early 1950s the Bank s operations in PNG were administered by the Queensland Inspector who reported to the Chief Inspector. There is a solid series of Chief Inspector s letters to the Port Moresby Manager, (GM- CI/101/1, 3-4), and to the Queensland Inspector re Papua and New Guinea, (GM- CI/110/1-6, 113/1-3, 114/1-20). The Chief Inspector s correspondence series (GM-CI-302), referred to above, also documents New Guinea businesses well. For example: New Guinea Goldfields Ltd Wau, (GM-CI/302/2795/1) Steamships Trading Co Ltd Port Moresby & Samarai, (GM-CI/302//2796) WR Carpenter & Co Ltd Rabaul, (GM-CI/302//2591) 8

9 Bulolo Gold Dredging (GM- CI/302//2586) Although not listed by Ms Rantzen, the samples of the Inspector s and Branch Manager s reports to the General Manager (R44s copies sighted in the reference file 9/301/1) indicate in-depth commentary on economic and social conditions. For example, the Suva Branch Manager s report of September 1912 includes comments on Suva s imports, exports, area under crops, copra shortage, the successful year for banana growers and buyers, the first 10 tons produced by the Veisari Sisal & Hemp Co, harbour works reclamation and the installation of a sewerage system. The Queensland Inspector s annual and half-yearly reports would also provide crucial material, to a similar depth of detail, for researchers interested in pre-wwii PNG, all the more important given the destruction of other contemporary records in New Guinea. The list also points to an enormous amount of information on monetary policy in Fiji during and after the Depression. It should also be noted that there are extensive photographic records in the Westpac archives and at least one oral history recording relating to the Bank s operations in the Pacific. I am very grateful to Mrs Kerrianne George, the Manager of Westpac Historical Services, for allowing the Bureau to carry out this survey, and to Lucy Rantzen for her professional guidance to the records. Researchers interested in obtaining further information about the Westpac archives can contact Westpac Historical Services, 6-8 Parramatta Road, Homebush NSW 2140, Australia; Ph. (612) ; Fax (612) ; kgeorge@westpac.com.au. Ewan Maidment, PMB Executive Officer Pacific Islands Monthly Complete set, Jul 1973-Sep 1994, un-bound, no gaps, available to any interested institution. Please contact Nancy Lutton NfLutton@bigpond.com or the Bureau for further information. Solomon Islands Newspapers Microfilmed by the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau The Kakamora Reporter (Honiara), Nos.1-46, Jun Jul PMB Doc 414/1 reel. The Solomons News Drum (Honiara), trial ed. and Nos.1-66, , , 362, Oct 1974, Feb 1975-Apr PMB Doc 415/Reels 1-6. Melanesian Nius/The Kiokio Nius (Honiara), Nos.1-10, Jan-Mar PMB Doc 416/1 reel. British Solomon Islands Protectorate News Sheet (BSIP Administration), PMB Doc 422/Reels 1-5. Na Turupatu na Lotu Katolika (Catholic Mission, Solomon Islands. Mainly in the Gari language of Guadalcanal.) Nos.1, 3-143, , , , and Nos.1, 3-5, PMB Doc 423/Reels 1-3. Solomons Toktok (Honiara, George Aitkin, editor), (gaps). PMB Doc 424/Reels 1-6. Solomon Star (Honiara), PMB Doc 429/Reels 1-4. Solomon Islands Political Party Manifestos, Policy Statements and Programmes of Action, , collected by Dr Ian Frazer. PMB Doc 430/1 reel. Pacific Islands Scientific Serials recently microfilmed by the PMB PAPUA NEW GUINEA JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES, and predecessor titles, Vols.1-35, PMB Doc 451/Reels 1-4. TERRITORY OF NEW GUINEA, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, LEAFLET, Nos (gaps), PMB Doc 452/1 reel. FIJI PLANTERS JOURNAL (Planters Association of Fiji), PMB Doc 455/Reels 1-2. FIJI AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL (Fiji Dept of Agriculture; later Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests) Vol.1, 1928 Vol.52, PMB Doc 457/Reels 1-5. AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE (British Solomon Islands Protectorate), Vols.1-3, PMB Doc 460/1 reel. Some Other Recent PMB Microfilm Series Titles PMB Doc 459 THE NEW HEBRIDES MAGAZINE. A journal of the missionary and general information regarding the islands of the New Hebrides (Sydney), Nos.1-41, Oct 1900-Oct reel, 35mm microfilm. Available for reference. Microfilmed from originals held at the Mitchell 9

10 Library, Macquarie Street, Sydney, Australia. Early issues of the New Hebrides Magazine were edited by Dr William Gunn of Aneityium and promoted by Rev. Dr Robertson of Erromanga under the auspices of the Foreign Missions Committee of the Presbyterian Church in Victoria. Dr Gunn also printed some of the early issues. The Synod then decided that the journal should be printed in Australia. A few issues were printed in Sydney, but after 1905 it was printed by Arbuckle, Waddell & Fawckner in Melbourne. In 1905 Rev. T Wattlegatt of Malekula became Editor for about three years, but he moved to Victoria in 1906 and as he felt out of touch with the New Hebrides resigned as Editor. Rev. F H L Paton, Foreign Missions Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria then took over as Editor. The New Hebrides Magazine was succeeded by Our Missionaries at work : a journal of missionary information (Vol.1, no.1-vol.6, no.4, Dec 1911-Oct 1917) issued by the Presbyterian Church in Victoria. PMB 1204 John Cranston McINERNEY ( ), New Guinea Journal Transcript, Sep 1943-Apr reel, 35mm microfilm. Available for reference. Original held by Ms Sally McInerney. John Cranston McInerney was born in 1916, grew up on the land near Koorawatha and Cowra, NSW, and went to school at St Patrick s College, Goulburn. He graduated from Sydney University Medical School in 1941, enlisted in the Australian army in September that year, serving as a Medical Officer ranked as Lieutenant in the 2 nd 14 th Light Field Ambulance in New Guinea and then as Captain in the 2 nd 2 nd Commando Squadron. He went back to New Guinea after the war, learnt to fly and became District Medical Officer at Wewak. He died after his Auster aircraft crashed into the sea at Vanimo, March This journal was mostly written in New Guinea, September 1943 till July 1944, much of it in the Chimbu, Eastern Highlands, Wahgi Valley and Ramu River areas. As well as accounts of Dr McInerney s military experiences, the journal includes Kuman vocabularies, notes on legends, customs and practices of the Dengla-Maguagu people and an account of stone axe making by Dom people in the Wahgi Valley. The original is a black-covered A5 notebook with a small area of water damage at the top of each page. This damage must have happened before 1953, as John McInerney has in places rewritten over the washed-out area. His handwriting, in both ink and pencil, is very small and difficult to decipher. The microfilm of the original Ms. is in the Mitchell Library, Sydney. The Mitchell Library and National Library of Australia also have a copy of this typescript which is transcribed from much enlarged photocopies of the original Ms. The black notebook is presently in the care of Gavan McInerney and Sally McInerney. PMB 1202 Ottmar MAIER (1929-.), Stone tool collection data sheets, Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea, reel, 35mm microfilm. Available for reference. Original held by Mr Ottmar Maier, Queensland, Australia. In the period Mr Maier was a lay missionary builder with the Divine Word Mission. When he took an interest in stone artifacts, Father Heinrich Aufenanger SVD, who later became Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Nanzan University in Japan, instructed him in how to document artifacts. Whilst in Chimbu Mr Maier collected 234 stone tools documenting them in detail, including photographs of the stone implements and the people who sold/gave them to Mr Maier.The collection was eventually sold to the Städtische Museum für Völkerkunde in Frankfurt. Some of the data sheets have been published by Carl A. Schmitz in 'Steinerne schalenmörser, pistille und vogelfiguren aus Zentral Neuguinea' in Baessler-Archiv, Neue Folge, Band XIV, in 1966, pages Data sheets Nos documenting transfers of Chimbu, Papua New Guinea, stone tools, including date, location, name of donor, description of artefact and its uses, in German (mainly), pidgin and English, including, on most data sheets, photograph of artefact and donor. Robin Hide commented that the datasheets are a nice window on the process of artefact collection by a lay missionary at that time (and why the Chimbu were so willing to dispose of them). PMB 1201 SOUTH SEA EVANGELICAL MISSION, formerly Queensland Kanaka Mission. Registers of Baptisms, Reels 1-2, 35mm microfilm. Available for reference. Originals at the Centre for the Study of Australian Christianity, Menzies College, Macquarie University, Sydney (PO Box 1505 Macquarie Centre, NSW, 2113, Australia). See also SSEM correspondence, , at PMB 1150; Not in Vain, , at PMB Doc 439; Despatches from the SSEM, Mar 1932-Jul 1956, at PMB Doc 440; and Solomon Soldiers News, , at PMB Doc

11 Reel 1 Queensland Kanaka Mission. List of Baptisms, Nos , Notes on baptised people, cross referenced to QKM List of Baptisms, above, 1902(?). Solomons Baptisms Register, Nos , Solomons Register of Baptisms, Nos , Solomons Baptisms Register, Nos , Solomons Baptisms Register, Nos , 1932-Mar Solomons Baptisms Register, Nos , New Guinea Baptism Record Book, Nos , Reel 2 Miss L. Drewitt. List of Villagers visiting Mission (One Pesi?), Furlough Lists (2 volumes). Lists time spent by staff in the Islands, Grammar Notes and English-Makira Vocabulary WB [Wanoni Bay], arranged by Miss Waterson. Ts., carbon; c.80pp., (first page missing), PMB 1190 Joan M HERLIHY, Papers on Provincial and Local Government in the Solomon Islands, Reels 1-13, 35mm microfilm. Available for reference. Originals held by Dr J M Herlihy, Queanbeyan, NSW, Australia. Joan Herlihy was an advisor to the Solomon Islands Special Committee on Provincial Government which met in November 1978, shortly after independence. The Committee produced a report in January 1979, Decentralisation and Provincial Government: Solomon Islands, which was the basis for provincial and local government arrangements in the Solomon Islands for the next 20 years. Frustration with centralisation of political power in Honiara was a concern of the Committee and remains a concern in the Solomon Islands, as indicated by the civil conflict in Dr Herlihy s PhD thesis, Always we are last: a study of planning, development and disadvantage in Melanesia, was submitted at the ANU in CONTENTS Documents collected by Dr. Herlihy as Advisor to the Special Committee on Provincial Government (SCPG) in , as follows: West Council Papers, Background Papers, Nos , 1978 Unnumbered background and issues papers, summary of submissions, agenda papers, daily summary, circulars, notes, minutes, recommendations, draft and final report, draft provincial government legislation. Further papers on most aspects of Solomon Islanders social, economic and political life collected by Dr Herlihy arranged by subject, as follows: Plans & Planning National Plans, Departmental Plans Solomons, Planning Solomons, Cooperatives, Economy of Solomons, (1) & (2), Rural Economy and Devopment, Kamaosi Rural Training Centre, Agricultural and Industrial Loans Board and other Credit and Loans, Tourism, Transport and Communications, Constitution, Decentralisation & Local Govt, Local Government Conferences, Area Committees, Councils, Isabel Council (1) & (2), Council Planning Isabel, Makira Council, Council Planning Makira, Employment and Wages, , Trade Unions, Land in Solomons (1) & (2), Culture and Traditional Systems, Press Cuttings, See Reel List for details. Rhys Richards, Honolulu: Centre of Trans-Pacific Trade. Shipping Arrivals and Departures , Published jointly by the Hawaiian Historical Society and the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau. Copies are available from the Bureau for AU$30.00, plus postage. 11

12 RECENT PAMBU MICROFILM TITLES: MANUSCRIPTS & PRINTED DOCUMENT SERIES PMB 1166 SOUTH PACIFIC AND OCEANIC COUNCIL OF TRADE UNIONS: archives, Reels 1-5. (Available for reference.) PMB 1184 ARCHER, Fred Palmer ( ): papers relating to plantations in Wuvulu, Bougainville and Buka, Papua New Guinea, Reels 1-7. (Available for reference.) PMB 1190 HERLIHY, Joan M.: Papers relating to Provincial and Local Government in the Solomon Islands, 1970s-1980s. Reels (Available for reference.) PMB 1204 McINERNEY, John Cranston ( ) New Guinea Journal, Transcript. 1 reel. (Available for reference.) PMB 1205 PACIFIC ISLANDS CO LTD: legal papers, agreements, reports, notes and press cuttings on islands, Reels 1-5. (Available for reference.) PMB 1206 PACIFIC PHOSPHATE CO LTD, Sydney and Melbourne Offices: Ocean Island and Nauru correspondence, Reels (Available for reference.) PMB 1209 TURPIN, Edwin James ( ): Fiji Diary and Narratives, reel. (Available for reference.) PMB 1210 DEUTSCHE HANDELS-UND PLANTAGEN GESELLSCHAFT: registers of Melanesian Indentured Labourers in Samoa, reel. (Available for reference.) PMB 1211 YOUNG WOMEN S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF FIJI: archives, Reels 1-2. (Closed till January 2005 then available for reference.) PMB 1213 GORDON, Sir Arthur: Fijian Pamphlets collected by Sir Arthur Gordon, Vols.1-3, Reel 1-2. (Available for reference.) PMB 1214 GORDON, Sir Arthur ( ): High Commission Fiji Pamphlets. Reel 1. (Available for reference.) PMB 1215 GORDON, Sir Arthur ( ): Newspaper cuttings concerning Sir Arthur Gordon, reel. (Available for reference.) PMB 1216 GROVES, W. C., "Report on Education in the British Solomon Islands", roneo, c.200pp. 1 reel. (Available for reference.) PMB 1217 WESTERN DISTRICT (PNG) FLY RIVER AREA AUTHORITY, Western District Legends, reel. (Available for reference.) PMB 1218 JOHNSON, Ross: New Guinea Patrol reports and related papers, reel. (Available for reference.) PMB 1220 HAWAIIAN MISSION CHILDREN S SOCIETY LIBRARY, Micronesian Collection, Reels (Available for reference.) PMB 1222 FRANCIS X HEZEL SJ: Papers on the Catholic Diocese of the Caroline Islands, Reels 1-7. (Available for reference.) PMB 1224 WAHGI LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL: minutes of meetings and related papers, reel. (Available for reference.) PMB Doc 455 FIJI PLANTERS JOURNAL (Planters Association of Fiji), Reels 1-2. (Available for reference.) PMB Doc 457 FIJI AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL (Fiji Dept of Agriculture; later Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests) Vol.1, 1928 Vol.52, 1990; including the Fiji Farmer, Vol.1, No.1 Vol.3, No.1, Mar 1965 Mar Reels 1-5. (Available for reference.) PMB Doc 458 VANUATU RADIO NEWS, LOCAL NEWS BULLETIN (Radio New Hebrides/Radio Vanuatu), 28 Sep Nov 1980 (gaps). Reels 1-2. (Available for reference.) PMB Doc 459 THE NEW HEBRIDES MAGAZINE. A journal of the missionary and general information regarding the islands of the New Hebrides (Sydney), Nos.1-41, Oct 1900-Oct (Available for reference.) PMB Doc 460 AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE (British Solomon Islands Protectorate), Vols.1-3, (Available for reference.) Please contact Pambu or see PMB website for full list of microfilm titles and detailed reel lists. Unrestricted titles are available for purchase from the Bureau. Microfilm prices are as follows: Pacific Islands, New Zealand and Australia Rest of the world Silver Halide AU$70.00 per reel; Vesicular $AU65.00 per reel, less 20% for independent Pacific island nations, plus freight, plus GST for sales in Australia Silver Halide US$70.00/reel, plus freight Vesicular US$65.00/reel, plus freight Contact the Bureau for postage rates to your region/state/country 12

13 Pambu Newsletter, November